What books have you been reading recently?
I’m currently juggling three: A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women in Pornography by Mireille Miller-Young, Black Queer Studies edited by E. Patrick Johnson, and The Fire Been Here: Essays by Venus Selenite. I just cracked open the latter but I’m a huge fan of Venus’ work and will be touring with xem in a week or so, so tryna study up! I’ve been devouring A Taste for Brown Sugar and I really wish I had the income to afford every Duke University Press book ever.

What’s your signature style?
High waisted trousers and some kind of a crop top. No bra, all titty.

What's your sign? Do you find astrology a useful tool?
I’m a textbook non-man Pisces, with a Scorpio Rising and Aries Moon. Whatever is going on inside of me and these whole-ass 12 houses is messy and intense, full of fear and so much love. I do a lot of self-reflection work and find astrology helpful, though I suck at sustaining routines. I haven’t gotten very far in studying astrology. Also, once numbers get involved, a bitch is done. I feel really grateful for black femmes doing the work like my homie Jaliessa Sipress and Naimonu James, who I subscribe to for my horoscopes.

Do you have any rituals?
Drinking wine and shaving my head. Exfoliating my face and then using rose water or witch hazel for toner before moisturizing. Watching Passing Strange with a new love. Anointing my ears and wrists and breasts in lavender oil before leaving the house. Writing my birth name in the front of a new book.

Have you seen any good live performances recently?
On an Instagram livestream, Shani Crowe constructed a whip with braided hair and, in a stunning blend of black femme rage and revenge and kink, strapped a white man to a post and whipped him. I swear I heard someone yell “harder!” and I cried the way you might seeing your favorite team win the superbowl. Some white audience members walk out halfway through and I didn’t expect anything else. This gave me so much life and really affirmed the meeting place of rage and ritual I find myself at with my work.

Is there a fictional character you identify with?
I’m basically Badtz Maru.

Any advice from a horoscope you recently took?
If you see your crush, drop a pencil and bend over in front of your crush… or eat a corndog in front of your crush.

Any people or projects you’re really into right now/want to hype?
I work full time for a used clothing store in San Jose called Black and Brown. In my honest opinion it’s one of the only coolest things happening in San Jose, so I always try to spread the word.

Adrian Miles

Tell us about where you’re from and where you are right now.
I was born and raised in LA, and now currently in Bedstuy. Growing up as a sensitive Blaxican (Black and Mexican) kid in a violent city was tough. At 15, before moving to NYC, I was caught between choosing my gang life or my healthier outlets, such as Capoeira Angola, yoga, music, and art. Thankfully, I chose my healthier outlets and moved the fuck outta LA.

What do you let yourself indulge in?
Sugar and film photography.

Favorite TV shows as a kid? What are you watching right now?
Everything from Kenan and Kel and Mucha Lucha to Spawn and other shows I shouldn’t have been watching. Right now, I’m obsessed with The Sopranos.

It’s a Friday at Midnight, what are you most likely doing?
Having an emotional meltdown or dancing to music at home. Sometimes both.

Is there something you accomplished recently that you’re proud of?
Being in a punk band, putting together POC centered punk shows with a collective I helped put together, teaching more Capoeira Angola workshops to kids and adults, going to therapy, and finally healing from years of self-harming.

Any people or projects you’re really into right now/want to hype?
My band, Maduros, and my collective, No Flowers For Yt Powers, a (QT)POC punk collective based in NYC .

Chris Metzger is a double scorpio who loves posting up in a flower patch. He moved to Brooklyn after studying in the Pacific Northwest, and is an editor at Mask.